Pruning is seldom practiced, except so far as may be necessary to properly shape the young tree, and this is better done in summer by pinching. In case of a freeze, all injured wood should be promptly cut away. It is said that the size of the fruit can be greatly increased by judicious pruning, but, as before stated, it is seldom done. Figs come into bearing very early. A thrifty growing cutting will often set some fruit the first season, but this seldom matures. When the tree does not winterkill, a little fruit may be expected the second season, and by the third the crop should be of some importance. INSECT ENEMIES AND DISEASES. The fig is usually spoken of as being comparatively free from insect enemies, and the literature of its diseases, of which there are a number, is scanty. It is probably true that in most localities it is less frequently injured from these causes than are other fruit trees. Among the diseases reported from the South the one causing most widespread injury is doubtless root knot. FIG-TREE BORER. A longicorn beetle, _Ptychodes vittatus_, has caused considerable injury at some points in Louisiana and Mississippi by burrowing into the trunk and larger branches. In reply to inquiries regarding this insect, Director W. C. Stubbs, of the Louisiana Experiment Station, says: The damage done in Louisiana is to a large extent conjectural. In our groves we have lost several trees temporarily, all being bored into by this borer. They, however, start up again quickly from the roots and soon replace the injured trees. We have had no remedy against this invasion except to dig it out while very young with a penknife. We have tried various insecticides without any apparent results. FIG-LEAF MITE. A browning and subsequent premature falling of the leaves, caused by the work of a minute mite, is reported as rather common in Florida by Mr. H. J. Webber, of the Subtropical Laboratory. It has not been studied. Mr. Ellison A. Smith, jr., botanist and entomologist of South Carolina Experiment Station, has published a list[1] of insects observed feeding on ripe figs, but he does not mention any that injure the tree. Footnote 1: South Carolina Experiment Station, Annual Report, 1889, pp. 105, 106. The list is as follows: Allorhina nitida (L.), Ptychodes trilineatus, Lybithea bachmanni (Kirth), Apatura celtidis (Bd. Sec.), Grapta interrogationis (F.), Pyrameis atalanta (L.). ROOT KNOT.